Story originally printed in the Westby Times or online at www.westbytimes.com
Published - Monday, June 16, 2008
Coon Creek Festival preparations in high gear
The village of Coon Valley has been preparing for the annual Coon Creek Festival for months and God willing and the creek doesn’t rise again, the community of 700 will be holding the fun-filled weekend of festivities on June 21st and 22nd.
Changes are already underway to relocate some of the scheduled events after nine inches of rain drenched the area and caused record flooding at all ends of the county last weekend.
The event is scheduled to draw between 70-80 rendezvous camp sights which normally are positioned on the banks of the Coon Creek, near the veteran’s memorial. Due to high water, the rendezvous tents may be relocated to the backside of the ball field where the horse pull has been held in the past.
According to village hall the third annual horse pull would than be held at an undetermined location in the village.
Ball games would be held at the ball field as planned providing the water levels recede and the ground is deemed safe for playing.
The biggest concern for event organizers lies with the Coon Valley Youth Association duck race. The popular family event draws hundreds of people who line the banks of the Coon Creek walking beside the water, watching the plastic ducks as they float downstream after being dropped from a cage above the center walking bridge in the park.
At press time the walking path along the creek was still under water and the silt and debris on the banks of the creek would not provide a safe haven for anyone along the water edge. The present current of the water would also cause the ducks to fly downstream instead of float and the posse of human duck catchers at the the end of the race route would have to tied to the USH 14/61 bridge so they didn’t get washed away.
Coon Creek Fire and Rescue, who are planning a special weekend of events in honor of the organization’s 150 anniversary, might need to ad water rescue to their wide array of talents if a projected weather pattern continues across the country with the potential to drop more heavy precipitation on an already saturated Coulee Region.
A more complete story on the upcoming Coon Creek Festival and Rendezvous will be in the June 19th issue of the Westby Times.
All stories copyright 2006 Westby Times and other attributed sources.